In recent years, apparatuses such as digital still cameras, digital video cameras, and the like, which record digital image data of moving and still images have prevailed.
Digital still cameras popularly adopt compact memory cards as recording media, and some cameras can record not only still image data but also moving image data. Also, some digital video cameras adopt randomly accessible recording media such as compact memory cards, magnetooptical disks, and the like as recording media.
In cameras that use randomly accessible recording media, image data is saved as a data file. In this case, it is a common practice to record date information of an image sensing time together with image data. In recent years, some digital still cameras and digital video cameras record location information of an image sensing place together with image data by utilizing a positioning system such as GPS or the like. The location information includes, e.g., latitude information and longitude information. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-254746 discloses a technique for managing image data based on information of image sensing places.
As means for making active use of the location information recorded together with image data, it is a common practice to use a database that records location information, place name information, and the like. Upon searching the database on the basis of the location information (latitude and longitude) recorded together with image data, a place name and map information corresponding to that location information can be acquired.
A player of image data itself may have such database or a database provided as a service on a network such as the Internet or the like may be used via a player.
However, when the latitude and longitude are recorded as location information together with image data, it is difficult for the user to understand such information as they are. For this reason, in order to make active use of the location information, a database used to acquire information such as a map, actual place name, and the like that the user can easily understand on the basis of the location information is required.
Since the database stores place name information and the like in correspondence with location information, the data size is very large. When the player itself has the database, a large-capacity storage device is required.
Alternatively, a database on the network may be used without arranging any database in the player. In such case, in an environment in which the player cannot establish a connection to the network, the database cannot be used, and the location information cannot be actively used.
In this way, when only the location information is recorded together with image data, it is not always easy to make active use of the location information.
Also, when the conventional database is used, information depending on time such as event information cannot be acquired.